The embodiments described herein relate to perforating gun connectors and, more particularly, to improved connectors used to couple perforating guns.
After drilling the various sections of a subterranean wellbore that traverses a hydrocarbon-bearing formation, individual lengths of relatively large diameter metal tubulars are typically secured together to form a casing string that is positioned within the wellbore. This casing string increases the integrity of the wellbore and provides a centralized path for producing fluids extracted from intervals in the formation to the surface. Conventionally, the casing string is cemented within the wellbore. To produce fluids into the casing string, hydraulic openings or perforations extending into the surrounding subterranean formation must be made through the casing string and the cement.
Typically, these perforations are created by detonating a series of shaped charges that are disposed within the casing string and positioned adjacent to the formation. Specifically, one or more perforating guns are loaded with shaped charges. Multiple perforating guns can be coupled with connectors to form a perforating gun string that is lowered into the cased wellbore on an appropriate conveyance. Once the perforating gun string is properly positioned in the wellbore such that the shaped charges are disposed adjacent the formation to be perforated, a firing head is actuated and the shaped charges detonate in a predetermined fashion, thereby creating the desired hydraulic openings into the casing string. The perforating gun string may then be retrieved to the surface.